CTA CTA Curriculum & Assessment Support 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Curriculum standards in US public schools are primarily determined by:
- Individual classroom teachers alone
- State education agencies, with federal guidelines such as those in ESSA (Correct answer)
- Publishing companies only
- Parent groups exclusively
Correct answer: State education agencies, with federal guidelines such as those in ESSA
In the US, curriculum standards are primarily set by state education agencies, with federal law such as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) providing overarching guidelines.
Question 2: Which of the following is an example of curriculum alignment?
- Teaching any topic regardless of grade-level standards
- Ensuring that daily lessons and assessments match the grade-level standards students are expected to meet (Correct answer)
- Using the same textbook for every grade
- Assigning homework unrelated to classroom content
Correct answer: Ensuring that daily lessons and assessments match the grade-level standards students are expected to meet
Curriculum alignment means ensuring that lessons, activities, and assessments are directly connected to the grade-level standards students are expected to master.
Question 3: What is the role of a teacher assistant when administering a read-aloud accommodation during a test?
- To rephrase questions to make them easier
- To read the test content verbatim without providing additional explanations (Correct answer)
- To tell the student which answers are correct
- To skip questions the student finds difficult
Correct answer: To read the test content verbatim without providing additional explanations
When providing a read-aloud accommodation, the teacher assistant must read the test content verbatim without altering, simplifying, or explaining it.
Question 4: Benchmark assessments are typically given to:
- Only students with IEPs
- All students at regular intervals throughout the year to monitor progress toward standards (Correct answer)
- Students who are failing only
- Teachers for professional development purposes
Correct answer: All students at regular intervals throughout the year to monitor progress toward standards
Benchmark assessments are administered to all students at regular intervals during the school year to track progress toward meeting grade-level standards.
Question 5: What does 'vertical alignment' in curriculum mean?
- Aligning desks vertically in the classroom
- Ensuring that learning progressions are coherent across grade levels from kindergarten through high school (Correct answer)
- Teaching the same content in every grade
- Aligning curriculum only within one grade level
Correct answer: Ensuring that learning progressions are coherent across grade levels from kindergarten through high school
Vertical alignment ensures that skills and content build coherently across grade levels so that each year's learning prepares students for the next year's expectations.
Question 6: A portfolio assessment collects:
- Only the student's worst work
- A purposeful collection of student work over time that shows growth and achievement (Correct answer)
- Teacher lesson plans only
- Standardized test scores exclusively
Correct answer: A purposeful collection of student work over time that shows growth and achievement
A portfolio assessment is a purposeful collection of student work samples over time, designed to demonstrate growth, effort, and achievement across multiple dimensions.
CTA CTA Curriculum & Assessment Support 2
Curriculum standards in US public schools are primarily determined by: